Report by Tom Serby:
Today saw the rising force in Cambs cricket, Cam Kerala, against the old guard (us) on a fine late summer evening that induced us to get for 15 8-ball overs - a tad optimistic, but as it turned out not all the overs were required, so we were done in goodish light.
Skipper Chris Badger's batting order was largely predetermined by who had arrived at the ground in time for the start of Remnants' innings batting first. Kanwar (20 off 16 balls) of course took the belligerent approach to his sometime teammates before being bowled essaying another boundary. His opening partner Tom Serby struggled against the openers but found some fluency in and over "cow" (37 off 42 balls). CJ Barrie (17 off 15 balls) after a cautious start also opened his shoulders to good effect. Tom then ran out Seb Hammersley by calling him through for a single off his first ball, inducing umpire Quentin Harmer to suggest that Tom had earned himself report-writing duties - and so it turned out. Chris replaced Seb at the crease and a "run a ball" 16 saw Remnants to 117/5 . . .
Which it turned, out after just 10 overs of some huge sixes over the netting into the garden of the unfortunate house at midwicket (yes, the one with the greenhouse - miraculously unscathed) and two lost balls, was not nearly enough. The extremely hirsute Cam K opener Manoj strikes an impressive figure at the crease and prefers to deal in sixes, eschewing any running. He was brilliantly caught by CJ Barrie in the deep early in his innings of 45 only for CJ to be a candidate for the CMJ spirit of cricket award by admitting he had stepped back onto the boundary.
Remnants' bowlers Huw Davies (0/44), Quentin Harmer (1/31) and Anand (0/23) had the right idea against the big hitters, in tossing the ball up, but although the aerial shots were taken, on a big ground such as Fitz, seldom is there going to be a fielder under the catch. Qaiser Ahmed (1/17) was easily Remnants' best bowler.
In these changing days for cricket there was one other small novelty to report: in our bowling innings two "sets", each of 8 balls, were taken between each change of ends - a sensible development when time is of the essence in late August [but worryingly close to aping The Hundred - ed.].